By Bruce Warren

When Jack Taylor was named the new Boulder High Baseball Coach, it marked the culmination of a roundabout path back to his alma mater. 

Taylor grew up in Gunbarrel, graduating from Boulder High in 1986. He began playing baseball as a youngster in the Gunbarrel Lefthand Valley Recreation Association program,  affectionately known then as GLVRA, and now known as Niwot Youth Sports.  

Taylor’s father, Jackson Taylor, was Vice-President of GLVRA from 1978-1979 and President from 1980 to 1982 while working for IBM.  Like many future coaches, Taylor was a catcher for Boulder High under coach Ross Blackmer.   

After high school, Taylor went to Trinidad State to play baseball for two years, and later obtained his education degree from DePaul University in Chicago.  

Taylor began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at the University of Chicago.  From there he coached summer high school baseball, later becoming head coach at the University of Chicago High School, which served as a lab school for the University.  

His teams finished 12-0 in their conference twice, and were eventually ranked second in the City of Chicago in Single A with a 20-3 record.  Taylor’s squad beat several larger class schools along the way.  

While coaching at the lab school, Taylor taught PE during the day at an all black public school in Chicago.  “With 40 kids in a class, it was a challenge,” Taylor recalled.  “But I loved them to death,” he said.  

Through an old friend, Taylor kept his eye on coaching openings around Boulder.  “I interviewed at Centaurus, but I got the word late and was really unprepared,” he said.  “I literally ran into Bud Jenkins coming out of that interview.”  Jenkins, the Boulder High Athletic Director, kept Taylor in mind and when Roger Fisher resigned as the Panther coach, Jenkins called Taylor. 

“I had already resigned as coach in Chicago when I got the call,” Taylor noted.  After interviewing, Taylor got an offer on Dec. 18.  “Yes, I want that,” Taylor told Jenkins.  Taylor was hired as a part-time PE teacher at BHS and will serve as a mentor for students as well.  Taylor is third in a line of coaches at BHS who grew up in the Gunbarrel-Niwot area, following Fisher and Tyler Munro.

Taylor is anxious to start the season, although he learned upon arriving in Boulder that starting shortstop Tyler Littlehales is out for the season with a shoulder injury.  But Taylor was still upbeat.  “The kid that wouldn’t have gotten to play will step in,” he noted.  “And I hear that we have a great freshman class, according to Fairview coach Rick Harig.” 

“I learned a lot from Bob Bote’s baseball camps growing up,” Taylor recalled.  “I played with a lot of Niwot kids in GLVRA, like Jeff Connors, David Barnett, Scott Lockwood, Trey and Kent Kutz,  Mark and Mike Hoag and Conilogue brothers.”  

Ed Toledo, long-time Boulder baseball supporter, was part of the selection committee.  Taylor played with his son, Eddie, Jr., at Boulder High.  Ironically, Taylor co-teaches with Alan Schulz, another former BHS Baseball Coach and current Niwot High assistant.    

It didn’t take long for Taylor and Schulz to start picking each other’s brains.  “I told him I liked to have a batter stand at the plate while my pitchers are throwing and call pitches to work on strike zone recognition,” Taylor said.  “Coach Schulz said, ‘That’s a great idea! Alright, I learned something today.’  Of course, I’m learning a lot from him.”

“I should inspire at least one kid to become a coach,” Taylor continued.  “Hopefully some kid that played for me will come back and coach for me.”  

Photo by Bruce Warren